GREEN BAY – Dr. Pat McKenzie would rather this story not be written just yet. But he knows.
"I'm not thrilled with retiring," the Packers' longtime team physician and orthopedic surgeon admitted in a sit-down interview with packers.com to discuss his 35 years with the organization. "But it's time to go.
"There comes a time where you've been there long enough and it does make sense. It's hard to walk away from, though."
The reluctance is understandable for such an accomplished professional whose name carries greater recognition and respect than any other in the Packers' medical world.
The Oshkosh, Wis., native and Medical College of Wisconsin graduate came to the Packers in 1990 fresh off fellowships in arthroscopy and sports medicine under the tutelage of the renowned Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.
Some connections in Birmingham, which included the wife of then Packers offensive lineman Keith Uecker, helped pave his way to the team while he simultaneously began practicing with Dr. William Schneider's orthopedic group in the Green Bay area. (Coincidentally, Schneider's son, John, eventually became a Packers personnel executive and has served as general manager of the Seattle Seahawks since 2010.)
A year after McKenzie joined the Packers' medical staff, team president Bob Harlan asked him to take over as head physician, a position he held until the current season, when he became senior medical advisor to assist with Dr. Michael K. Ryan's transition to the lead role.
Ryan first came to the Packers in 2023 from the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center in Birmingham and previously provided on-site medical coverage for University of Alabama athletics, including the Crimson Tide football team, among several other high-level endeavors.
More than three decades ago, McKenzie had no idea he'd be with the Packers this long. But he always loved sports, and felt a community like Green Bay provided the perfect, broad landscape of high school, college and professional athletes for a career in orthopedics and sports medicine. So he never had reason to look elsewhere, and he's grateful for that.
"There was never even a discussion about length of time or how long," McKenzie said. "I do remember Bob telling me, 'You will run the show, and as long as you are happy with how this is going, we will have you forever.' This organization, the way they treat people and what they expect – they expect you to come in and do the best, and they'll treat you as the best. You can't find any place better than this to spend the time and work.
"It just became part of life. It wasn't part of a job. I never looked at it as that. I just looked at it as an experience and a way to 100% fully enjoy what I did."
He built a national reputation over time, based on forging relationships with the players he treated, the agents looking out for them, and the other doctors in his line of work.
In his early years, McKenzie said situations around the league could get contentious when players sought second opinions on their injuries, but his reaction was never to take offense. He viewed second opinions as learning and educational opportunities, as well as avenues to study treatment options more comprehensively.
That openness and transparency, combined with his meticulous follow-up whenever a player was treated elsewhere, went a long way.
"I would engage that doctor and make sure they'd tell him I'll take care of (the player) when he comes back," McKenzie said. "Tell me anything I need to know. Then I had those relationships and found that to be really helpful."
As his expertise grew with procedures he performed himself, mostly on knees and shoulders, he also was constructing his list of experts to call upon for other surgeries so the players always had top-of-the-line options at their disposal.
That approach helped foster trust amongst the players and their agents, which built his reputation as a thorough practitioner who always held up what's best for the player first and foremost.
"If they were ACLs or knee scopes or shoulder scopes, those were the routine sports things I did, and I was doing them all," McKenzie said. "But if they were anything else, if I didn't feel like I could do them as well as anybody in the country, I would automatically get the guy who was the best in the country and make sure he did them.
"Early on in my time, I would go with our players a lot, accompany them to wherever they were going to have their surgery, so I could see it, watch it, and then I'd really embrace what the rehab is going to be."
He'd also go the extra mile and seek multiple opinions on a player's behalf even if none was specifically requested. That earned notice in player and league circles as well.
Current vice president of player health and performance Bryan "Flea" Engel, who has worked with McKenzie since arriving as a Packers intern in 1997, explained part of McKenzie's legacy the current medical team will carry on is treating every player or Packers staff member like one's own family.
"He's just all in on whatever it was or whoever it was that he needed to care for," Engel said. "There were no shortcuts being taken. We're going to do the right thing and exhaust every possibility to make sure we've looked at every possible outcome, scenario … good, bad or indifferent, we're going to look at it. We're going to be as informed or as knowledgeable as need be.
"That's where the trust comes in, and word of mouth travels in the locker room. The respect that he has across the medical community, across the NFL, and it spans into other sports as well … He's just so confident and humble, and he's done it the same way from the time he walked in the door until the end. He's as consistent as the day is long."
McKenzie has always appreciated the resources the Packers provided for him to do the job the way he felt was best, and he has enough stories about injuries, surgeries and rehabs with Packers players to fill a wall of books. It also came with the territory to have players (and more often coaches) upset with him when he wouldn't medically clear a player to return to the field.
But whether he was failing Eric Dickerson on a physical due to a spinal condition when the Packers wanted to trade for him in the early 1990s – a diagnosis that ended the Hall of Fame running back's career – or having difficult conversations with Brett Favre about his broken thumb or Aaron Rodgers about his fractured clavicles when the star quarterbacks pushed to play, McKenzie was always focused on sharing knowledge: assuring the players and everyone involved understood each case's complete picture – the risks, potential consequences, and opinions of the many experts he'd consult.
"Pat McKenzie is a great man first and a phenomenal doctor second," Rodgers said when asked to reflect on his relationship with the retiring team physician. "It's hard to think of anyone I trusted more during my time in Green Bay than Pat. Multiple times I went under the knife and had him do surgery on me and multiple times I recovered and came back better.
"Pat is a dear friend, a special human being, an incredible doctor throughout his decades with the Packers. He became a close confidante and someone that I really relied on to help me with my decisions around my health. I am really thankful for Pat and his friendship over the years and I'm excited about what is next for him."
Just three years ago, McKenzie was honored with the Bob Harlan Leadership Award from the Packers Hall of Fame for his distinguished service to the organization. Back in 2011, he received the Jerry "Hawk" Rhea Award as the NFL's physician of the year in honor of his work during the Packers' 2010 championship season when Green Bay had the longest injured-reserve list in the league
But those awards don't come up when he's asked what he's most proud of over his long career with the team. To McKenzie, the way he built his own practice and reputation also created a culture amongst the Packers' medical staff, one he credits Engel and former longtime head athletic trainer/director of sports medicine Pepper Burruss with contributing greatly to as well.
"They said we all have a lane, and if we all stay in our lane, everything works," McKenzie said. "The players' lane is they've got to do everything they can do, every minute, to get out and play. The coaches, they need to do everything they can, every day, to motivate the players to play. Trainers, they need to do everything they can do to get the player healthy from whatever his injury was.
"And then the doctors, we have one role: Do what's best for the player. Keep him safe. That's all that matters, and we would always say if we all stay in our lane, we're OK."
McKenzie expects to finish his tenure with the team after the upcoming draft, to help complete the transition to Ryan, and then officially retire. He expressed full confidence in his successor, whose extensive credentials and experience will keep the players in good hands.
But it's still not easy to leave something he's poured his heart and soul into for so long. Working with some of the best athletes on the planet every day for 35 years, and earning their trust and appreciation, has been rewarding beyond measure.
"It's never been anything but I would say fun, in many ways, even when it was stressful," McKenzie said. "It was stimulating.
"It never seemed like I was working. It was just, that's my life."
